Ford Ironman Florida

  • Welcome to beautiful Panama City Beach!

    We're getting ready for lucky number 13 here at Ford Ironman Florida - the 13th running of the event that was the second mainland North American event that began in 1999. It's hard to believe that, until the first running of Ironman Lake Placid that same year, there were only two official Ironman races in North America - the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and Ironman Canada in Penticton, BC.

    First came Lake Placid, then came Florida ... and the rest is history. Those events spearheaded the huge growth the sport has seen here in North America. This year the race here on the beautiful beaches here in the Florida panhandle is as popular as ever - we're expecting more than 2,500 athletes to get started here tomorrow morning.

    Stay tuned for our exciting coverage, which will begin at 6AM local time (7AM EST) - we'll have my (Kevin Mackinnon) updates, photos courtesy of the folks at ASI, live video with Greg Welch, Michellie Jones and Dave Erickson.
  • Looking forward to some great weather:
    The forecast for tomorrow looks great - they are calling for a sunny day with high of 74 F (23 C) and a low of 47 (8 C). The winds are expected to come from the North East at 10 to 20 mph (16 - 32 kph).

  • The athletes competing in the Executive Challenge.

  • Greg Welch MCs the pro panel on Thursday.

  • Jessica Jacobs (last year's champ), Sofie Goos (2009 champ) and Kim Loeffler.

  • Air Force Maj. John Hensz, Eduardo Sturla and Ronnie Schildknecht.

  • It's been really windy here in Panama City Beach the last few days. Things are expected to be calmer tomorrow.

  • John Wragg will be competing in his 129th Ironman tomorrow.

  • Every single Ironman Florida - Susan, Richard and Mark have done this race 12 times! Lucky number 13 tomorrow.

  • Dave Ragsdale interviews Abigail Gomer (the youngest competitor here tomorrow) while Bobbie Williams and Frank Farrar, the oldest competitors look on.

  • The Ironman Foundation donated $3,000 to teh Panama City Marine Institute and $1,000 to "Miracle Field." All told more than $45,000 will be donated to the Panama City Beach area by the foundation this weekend.

  • Heather Warnicke (r) and Maggie Crutchfield each bid $3,500 on a poster that lists every athlete in the race here and will be signed by the top-five pros across the line here tomorrow. The money raised will go to the Wounded Warriors Project.

  • Hitting the beach for a pre-race swim on Friday morning.

  • Thumbs up! The waves don't seem to be bothering him at all!

  • Checking in the bikes.

  • Some fun numbers:
    There are just over 1,000 first timers competing here tomorrow.
    Some numbers:

    There were 2,911 registered for tomorrow’s race, including 633 women and 2,277 men. There are seven physically challenged athletes entered.

    The largest women’s division is F40-44 with 135 athletes.

    The largest men’s division is M40-44 as well – there are 516 in that category.

    There are 42 countries represented. USA has the most (2,500), Canada is second with 142.

    You can read about more pre-race info here: ironman.com
  • We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning! Our coverage starts at 6AM local time (video will begin at 6:30 AM). That will be 7 AM (7:30 EST).
  • Good morning from Panama City Beach. It looks like we're going to have a great day here - right now the temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 C) and we're looking at a high of 74 (23 C). Later tonight it's looking to go down to 47 F (8 C). Right now it feels a bit cool, but there's not a lot of wind - a great day for racing so far!
  • Our video coverage for today's race will get started in a few minutes - we're slated to begin at 6:30 AM. Greg Welch and Dave Erickson will be in the studio, while Michellie Jones will be out on the course.

  • Chris McCormack won Ironman 70.3 Taiwan earlier today. (Photo courtesy FinisherPix.com)

  • Michelle Wu took the women's title in Taiwan earlier today. (Photo courtesy FinisherPix.com)

  • The live video coverage has begun. Check out Dave and Greg. Michellie is down on the beach - she'll be doing a report shortly.
  • The sun is just starting to come up here in Panama City Beach. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful sunrise - things look completely clear out on the beach.
  • This morning the pros will get started at 6:50 AM, with the age group athletes heading off 10 minutes later. We're expecting somewhere around 2,500 athletes to get into the water this morning.
  • The only person here in Panama City Beach who is hoping that the wind picks up today is Eduardo Sturla, who told us during his pre-race interview that he was hoping things would be as challenging as possible on the bike. He's a big, strong guy who has won on a similarly flat course in Brazil four times. He'd dearly love to get a win outside of Brazil - he's been training here in the United States for the last few months in preparation.
  • The water is the flattest it's been all week here this morning. After a week of some decent waves, things look quite flat this morning. The pros are all warming up - they're about seven minutes away from their start.
  • We're expecting John Flanagan to hammer to the front of the swim right from the start. He's led the way out of the water in Kona a few times and routinely leads out of the water at any 70.3 or Ironman event he competes in. He's a former member of the US open water national team - he represented the US at a few world championships before getting into triathlon a few years ago.
  • Some of the other strong swimmers in the men's race include James Bonney, who's record includes a number of top finishes but he has yet to take an Ironman title. The word is he's in great shape right now, so he'll be one of the many men in this field who will be going after the win here today.
  • Another top swimmer in the field is Wolfgang Guembel, who is competing here today along with his dad, 61-year-old Wolfgang senior, who is celebrating his birthday today!
  • The race is about to start - for the pros, anyway.
  • There go the pros.
  • Our race clock has to start on the 15s - in case you're wondering why it looks like our race clock is off by five minutes!
  • John Flanagan has immediately opened up a gap on the rest of the group. There's a group of three trying to get on his feet, but they're already losing time to the man from Honolulu.
  • The lead women are in the third chase group. I haven't seen Nina Kraft here this week, but if she did end up starting today she'll be one of those women in the lead group. Many of the women's race favorites aren't particularly strong swimmers - last year's champion, Jessica Jacobs, finished the swim here last year in over an hour.
  • The swim today is a two-loop course - the athletes will have a run of about 100 m on the beach before they head back in to start the second loop. The pro men are a bit worried about lapping the age group swimmers, but they shouldn't have to pass too many athletes through their second lap.
  • It looks like James Bonney and Wolfgang Guembel are leading the chase behind Flanagan. The two are swimming side by side, with another swimmer right on their feet.
  • The age group start is about to happen - it's quite a sight seeing all those athletes out on the beach!
  • Bonney has now moved ahead of the other two swimmers in the group.
  • The age groupers are off! it is quite a sight to see all the green and pink caps hitting the water here to start Ford Ironman Florida.
  • The word is that John Flanagan has a 40 second lead on the chase group at the first turn.
  • John Flanagan appears to be on his way back to the beach - he continues to have a sizeable lead over the chase group of two. I'm assuming those two are James Bonney and Wolfgang Guembel.
  • Flanagan's lead is about 50 seconds, we're guessing. He's sprinting across the beach and about to head into the water again.
  • The conditions are even better - the water is even flatter than it was earlier this morning.
  • I believe it was James Bonney who was second out of the water. he's clear of the other two chasers.
  • The top men out of the water: 1 21:50 53 John Flanagan Mililani HI USA
    2 23:11 1:22 45 James Bonney Austin TX USA
    3 23:48 1:59 41 Craig Evans Hendersonville TN USA
    4 23:49 2:00 35 Wolfgang Guembel St. Catharines ON CAN
    5 24:36 2:47 59 Maxim Kriat Clermont FL UKR
    6 24:39 2:50 62 Ronnie Schildkn Samstageru CHE
    7 24:41 2:52 26 Eduardo Sturla Buenos Aires ARG
    8 24:44 2:55 66 Felix Schumann Badwimpfen DEU
    9 24:44 2:55 67 Frank Vytrisal Darmstadt DEU
    10 24:45 2:56 46 Chris Bagg Portland OR USA
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